adidas and Las Vegas NHL Franchise Reveal Team Name & Logo

The Las Vegas NHL franchise and adidas today unveiled the new team name and logo – the Vegas Golden Knights™. As the first expansion franchise since the 2000-01 season, the Golden Knights become the 31st team in the NHL and will start play in the 2017-18 season at T-Mobile Arena, marking an exciting new era for hockey in the Sun Belt.

Designed in collaboration with the Golden Knights’ ownership, operations and marketing teams, the new logo tells a visual story for the meaning behind the new name. It was vital for this new franchise to call out its recent entry into the League and provide a sense of optimism for the future. The goal was to align the team with a modern-looking aesthetic that also resonates with the local fan base of Las Vegas. This approach allows the residents to call the team its own.

The first part of the name, “Golden,” was derived from the history and narrative that spurred the settlement of Nevada, while also describing the opulence of Las Vegas today. The state currently remains one of the top producers of gold within the United States. The second piece of the name, “Knights,” was chosen to represent what the team will stand for – valor, courage and victory.

These concepts were based off of an initial brainstorm between the team’s owner, Bill Foley and the adidas creative team, where the myth of the original Black Knight, Zawisza Czarny was recounted. As a graduate of West Point, the Black Knight, which was the school’s mascot, served as an inspiration for Foley. Knights embody self sacrifice, valor and courage – pillars that the new franchise aims to bring to life as the team takes the ice in 2017.

Utilizing the insight behind the name as inspiration, adidas designers started with a knight’s helmet to serve as a simple, yet bold and iconic representation of the new team name. Next, the team wanted to add some subtle nuances that spoke to the team’s hometown. The outline of a “V” sits in the center of the helmet, representing “Vegas” and serving as the face of the helmet and the team.

Through further research, the creative team found that the use of specific colors, patterns, and symbols on shields had specific meaning, many times revealing which lord or kingdom that Knight represented. With this new-found research, the team decided to place the knight helmet on a shield for the logo, as it was the perfect way to create a logo that “represented” the city of Las Vegas. The primary logo also features a distinct grey color which was inspired by the dark, steely look of a Knight’s armour, giving the Golden Knights a unique color profile within the League. With the combination of the helmet and shield in the primary logo and swords in the secondary logo, the ID system symbolizes strength and honor, key principles for the new team to uphold.

A secondary logo incorporates the Fabulous Las Vegas Star paying homage to the Las Vegas residents while also underlining the team’s commitment to the community. This secondary logo also contains the color red, speaking to the red hues of the local landscape, which reinforces the team’s goal to connect back to the city.

Golden Knights team apparel and gear is now available online at adidas.com and shop.NHL.com and at the NHL flagship store in New York City. For more information on the Vegas Golden Knights, follow the conversation on Twitter and Instagram via @adidashockey, @NHL, @lvgoldenknights. Fans can also join in the conversation using #BoldInGold.